Tree stand



Jan. 25, 1966 F. w. RossLl-:R 3,231,226

TREE STAND Filed May 14, 1964 Frank W Ross/er IN VENTOR,

WM 3MB United States Patent O 3,231,226 'I'REE STAND Frank W. Rossler, Rte. 2, Menomonie, Wis. Filed May 14, 1964, Ser. No. 367,440 4 Claims. (Cl. 248-44) The present invention relates to a portable stand for a Christmas tree characterized, broadly stated, by a portable base having a receptacle for water, a trunk impaling anchor, and hingedly mounted stays or braces which have their upper ends abutting the tree's trunk at circumferentially spaced points and `temporarily connected to said trunk.

Christmas tree erecting and holding stands, such as those commonly known and used, are of many and varied styles and forms. A typical water pan-type base and holder would be the well known Lyman-type dsclosed, for example, in Patent No. 1,091,000 of March 24, 1941. Although there are countless stands and holders, patented or not, the one just mentioned will suflice to identify the particular field of endeavor with which the herein disclosed improved stand is associated. It will also be evident that the herein disclosed Christmas tree stand, comparatively speaking, is possessed of certain significant features and advantages which enable it to satisfa'ctorily and well serve the purposes for which it is intended.

Briefly the improved stand is characterized by a base having impaling means for positioning and temporarily anchoring the tree's trunk thereon, a plurality of circumferentially spaced arms having lower ends hingedly mounted on said base, said arms providing inclined proplike Stays and having free upper ends capable of residing in contact with said trunk at circumferentially spaced places, and means for positioning and retaining said arms in their trunk propping and bracing positions, said means being adapted to encircle said trunk, being connected to upper free ends of said arms, and when fastened, serving to retain said arms in their given positions.

`In addition to the above and, as will be hereinafter more clearly understood, the lower ends of said arms (legs or braces) are not only hingedly mounted atop the base, they are loosely hinged on a holddown ring or the like and are capable of being bodily shifted in a horizontal plane to the left or right so as to vary the inclined positions of the upper trunk contacting ends and so that the latter can be bound against the trunk surface out of the way of small limbs, whereby to obviate the need of chopping, sawing or otherwise removing the same as is often the case before a stand-supported tree can be set up for use.

A further improvement resides in the adopti-on and use of a cable or suitable plastic or equivalent rope and Wherein the same can be bound or lashed around the tree trunk, properly connected with the cooperating upper ends of the hinged adjustable braces or arms and with the ends thereof adjustably connectible in order to properly tension and tighten said binding element to assume and maintain its fastened state.

More explicitly, novelty is predicated on a tree trunk encircling arm positioning and fastening element having a cleat or plate at one end for adjustable and detachable mounting on a brace arm and having its other end screwthreaded to accommodate an assembling and retaining nut, preferably a Wing nut.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective showing a fragmentary portion of the trunk of a Christmas tree and how it is set up and held in position by the herein disclosed improved stand;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view with parts appearng in section and elevation;

FIGURE 3 is a section on the plane of the section line 3 3 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a view in perspective of the bodily attachable and detachable binding and fastening element or cable.

The improved stand comprises a base 6. This comprises a circular plate of suitable diameter and material having a flat disk-like body portion 8 and provided with a marginal downturned rim or fiange 10 which resides on the floor or other support surface 12. At the center of the top there is an upstanding endless ring or band 14 which is properly sealed in place and cooperates in defining a receiver and also a water pan for the trunk T of the Christmas tree. The lower end of the trunk has been sawed off square and anchored on the impaling prong or pin 16 fixedly provided at the center of the portion 8 of the base. A holddown ring 18 encircles the rim of the pan, that is, the part 14, and is spaced concentrically therefrom and at circumferentially spaced points it is secured to welded or equivalent anchoring lugs 20. This ring 18 is in a plane above the base and below the upper edge of the rim 14 of the pan. It serves to :accommodate the hinging and adjusting eyes 22 at the lower ends of the several prop-Iike braces or arms. There are three such arms and they are differentiated by the numerals 24, 25 and 26. Basically the arms are all the same. Each arm includes a suitable rigid strap member having a generally straight lower end portion 28 which terminates in the hinging and adjusting eye 22 an'd which is connected to an upper elongated inclined portion 30 whose upper end is provided with a hook 32, which may be substantially closed or partly opened depending on the decision of the manufacturer and changing needs of purchasers and users. It will be evident that the eye-equipped ends 22 can be bodily shifted to the left or right so that the,` upper end portions can clear small limbs on the tree trunk as brought out in FIG. 1. In addition to the adjustable pivoted trunk-propping arms, fastening and binding means is provided. This means is denoted generally by the numeral 34 and comprises a suitable length of cable, a rope or the like 36 having one end screw-threaded at 38 to accommodate an assembling and retaining thumb nut in the manner shown at 40, the other end being welded or otherwise connected at 42 to an end portion 44 of a' rectangular rigid cleat 46 having selectively usable stud holes 48 for an anchoring stud 50 which is fixedly mounted on the upper end portion of the arm 24 in the manner illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 1 and 2, and provided with a thumb nut 51.

It will be noted that the upper ends of the stabilizing or bracing arms 24, 25 and 26 are not positively screwed or nailed to the tree trunk as is often required with stands of the type under consideration. Instead the free ends 32 of the arms are tied or bound in place. The means 34 constitutes an ideal lashing or tying and fastenng element for this purpose. In practice the attaching cleat 46 is fastened to the stud 50 on the arm 24 as shown in FIG. 1. It wiil be noted that the stud holes can be selectively used to achieve the desired adjustment if required. The cable or flexible element 36 is looped around the trunk of the tree and connected with the hookedl upper ends 32 of the two arms or braces 25 and 26. The connection can be separable as suggested in PIG. 1 or the hooks can be closed and formed into eyes and the cable can be slid therethrough to achieve the desired encircling result. In any event, the threaded end 38 is passed through the eye 32 at the upper end of the arm 24 and the thumb Patented Jan. 25, 1966 nut 40 is applied and tightened to tension the binding action of said element 361 It is clear that the cleat 46 can be detached from the adrm 24. Likewise the screw-threaded end 38 can be detached. The arms .24, 25 and v26; Vcan be swung outwardly and away from the tree trunk to assume down positions in order to place the trunk of the tree in position in the manner shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. Then lthe arms can be swung inwardly and upwardly and propped in place against the tree trunk after which the cable means can be applied and fastened in place.

Then, too, these arms can be and are intended to swing inwardly and down and thus folded together when the stand is not to be used. This collapsible feature promotes compactness and convenience when the stand is to be stored away.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A portable Christmas tree stand comprising a base embodying a plate having a marginal downturned flange adapted to reside on the floor or other support, said plate having a generally fiat central portion provided with an upstanding endless rim sealingly joined with said plate and providing a tree receiving water pan, said plate being centrally provided with a fixed upstanding impaling prong to facilitate placement and anchorage of the trunk of the tree, an endless ring spaced in parallelism above the top of said plate and concentrically encircling and spaced from the enter periphery of said rim, a plurality of circumferentially spaced brace arms having lower ends thereof hingedly and adjustably mounted on said ring, lower end portions of said arms adjacent to said ring being at approximate perpendicul'ar relationship thereto when the arms are in use, the major medan and upper end portions of said arms converging and the upper ends thereof being provided with hook eyes adapted to contact the tree trunk, said arms when not in use being foldable toward the base to assume compact and convenient relationship, and an arm positioning and retaining binding element, said element comprising a flexiblel cable having one end screw-threaded and provided with a nut cooperable with the selected one of said hook eyes in a manner to connect said one end to one of saidv arms, the opposite end of said cable having means thereon detachably andv adjustably connected to said one arm.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 and wherein the means at the last-named end of said cable comprises a rigid cleat having a plurality of selectively usable stud accommodating holes, said one arm being provided below the adjacent hook eye with an outstanding stud and said stud being screW-threaded and adapted to be passed through a selected one of said stud holes so as to permit a nut to be attached to said stud and to thus adjustably join the treated end of the cable to said one arm,

3. A portable Christmas tree stand comprising a selfstanding base embodying a plate provided centrally With a receiver serving as a water pan and being further provided with an upstanding fixed impaling prong at the center of said receiver, an endless ring concentrically encircling said rim and fixedly anchored on said plate, and a plurality of arms constituting braces, said arms having lower ends formed with eyes hingedly as well as slidingly attached to said ring, the upper ends of said arms being provided with hook eyes adapted to contact at circumferentially spaced points the tree trunk, and a fiexible binding and tying element disposed in said hook eyes and provided at one end with screwthreads carrying a nut to retain said tying element connected to said arms and provided at an opposite end with a cleat, said cleat being detachably and adjustably niounted on a nut-equipped stud provided therefor on one of said arms.

4. A portable Christmas tree stand comprising a base having impaling means for positioning and temporarily anchoring a tree trunk thereon, a plurality of circurnferentially spaced arms having lower ends hingediy mounted on said base, said arms providing inclined proplike stays and having free upper ends adapted to contact said trunk at circumferentially spaced places, the lower ends of said arms being also shiftably inounted on said base and being circumferentially and bodily adjustable either clockwise or counterclockwise so that said arms, particularly, the upper ends thereof, can be adjustably located relative to the trunk to clear small limbs and to obviate the need of removing the same, and means for positioning and retaining said arms in their trunk propping and bracing positions and relationship, said means comprising a flexible linking cord, said cord being detachably and adjustably connected to the respective upper ends of said arms and When in position being adapted to encompass the trunk of the tree and in this manner to adjustably connect said upper ends to each other, the upper ends of said arms being provided with hook-like. eyes, portions of said cord adjacent to said eyes being adjustably connected thereto, said cord having free ends, one end being screw-threaded and carrying a nut to retain said cord connected to a coacting eye at the upper end of one of said arms, said one arm being provided with an outstanding stud, and a cleat having one end throf connected to a cooperating free end of said cord, said cleat having selectively usable holes adapted to be detachably connected with said stud.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 923,206 6/1909 Singleton 248-48 1,110,1'42 9/1914.v Piner 248-44 2,023,340 12/1935 Peskulich 284,-44 2,757,458 8/ 1956 Zipser 248-231 X 2,875,968 2/1959 Ekola 24-8-48 2,904,291 9/ 1959l Harbes et al. 248-44 2,908,461 10/1959 Coffeen 248-44 CLAUDEl A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

JOHN PETO, Examz'ner. 

1. A PORTABLE CHRISTMAS TREE STAND COMPRISING A BASE EMBODYING A PLATE HAVING A MARGINAL DOWNTURNED FLANGE ADAPTED TO RESIDE ON THE FLOOR OR OTHER SUPPORT, SAID PLATE HAVING A GENERALLY FLAT CENTRAL PORTION PROVIDED WITH AN UPSTANDING ENDLES RIM SEALINGLY JOINED WITH SAID PLATE AND PROVIDING A TREE RECEIVING WATER PAN, SAID PLATE BEING CENTRALLY PROVIDED WITH A FIXED UPSTANDING IMPALING PRONG TO FACILITATE PLACEMENT AND ANCHORAGE OF THE TRUNK OF THE TREE, AN ENDLESS RING SPACED IN PARALLELISM ABOVE THE TOP OF SAID PLATE AND CONCENTRICALLY ENCIRCULING AND SPACED FROM THE OUTER PERIPHERY OF SAID RIM, A PLURALITY OF CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED BRACE ARMS HAVING LOWER ENDS THEREOF HINGELY AND ADJUSTABLY MOUNTED ON SAID RING, LOWER END PORTIONS OF SAID ARMS ADJACENT TO SAID RING BEING AT APPROXIMATE PERPENDICULAR RELATIONSHIP THERETO WHEN THE ARMS ARE N USE, THE MAJOR MEDIAN AND UPPER END PORTIONS OF SAID ARMS CONVERGING AND THE UPPER ENDS THEREOF BEING PROVIDED WITH HOOK EYES ADAPTED TO CONTACT THE TREE TRUNK, SAID ARMS WHEN NOT IN USE BEING 